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Fairphone has to this point been a distinct segment participant with its give attention to modularity, reparability, and sustainability, however the firm now has a brand new CEO and needs to make a lot larger waves than earlier than. Reinier Hendriks, the brand new boss, labored at Vodafone and KPN previously, and joined Fairphone from Leaseweb. Whereas he would not have expertise in smartphone making per se, he thinks his position is all about “understanding the shopper”, and that is the identical in all industries.
Hendriks has large plans for the model. Fairphone will launch in 23 further markets this 12 months, with Austria and Switzerland already underway, and a gross sales accomplice additionally being discovered for the UK. Fairphone gadgets will probably be supplied by carriers in addition to distributors throughout these markets, making them far more seen than ever earlier than.
The brand new CEO needs to ultimately goal the €400 value level, which is about €300 lower than what the Fairphone 5, the latest mannequin, goes for. To realize that feat, Fairphone is extra intently collaborating with Google and Qualcomm.
Hendriks says the present mannequin “meets 80% of buyer wants”, which isn’t sufficient to win over a major variety of shoppers – in actual fact, the model solely bought 235,000 items final 12 months, most of them in Germany (which is one in all its greatest markets together with the Netherlands).
To place that into perspective, observe that your entire marketplace for smartphones in Germany final 12 months was 20 million. To be greater than a blip on the radar, Fairphone must go well beyond 80% of buyer wants. Hendriks says individuals wish to make a contribution (to sustainability), however they do not wish to sacrifice all the things else within the course of.
And that does appear to be a stable thought. Hopefully the model can ship, because it’s slightly distinctive within the smartphone area. And that uniqueness is not misplaced on Hendriks, who has put collectively a workforce engaged on getting its message throughout by new advertising and marketing channels.
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